Leicester Fainga\u02bbanuku\u2019s remarkable display<\/a> \u2013 carries, try assists with clever kicks, turnovers, lineout wins and more \u2013 have promoted him to a stage where, if Ardie Savea is missing, he may well earn the All Blacks No 7 jersey. That\u2019s despite this column\u2019s belief he was outpointed by Du\u2019Plessis Kirifi the previous weekend.<\/p>\n![\"Leicester]()
Leicester Fainga\u02bbanuku. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Blindside flanker: Simon Parker (Chiefs) \u2013 good, all-round shift against the Reds and a battle against tough Queenslander Joe Brial. Just edges Ethan Blackadder\u2019s gritty graft against the Blues.<\/p>\n
No 8: Wallace Sititi (Chiefs) \u2013 back to his best with two tries and a performance underlining his clear and present danger on both sides of the ball. Made a game-high 21 tackles.<\/p>\n
Halfback: Kyle Preston (Crusaders) \u2013 the sub outpointed starter Noah Hotham with a fine display after Hotham\u2019s average-only outing, overshadowed by the Blues\u2019 Sam Nock. Already a forgotten All Black at 26, Preston\u2019s one test was a win against the Springboks last year and, on the strength of this, he could be back for more at some stage.<\/p>\n
First five-eighths: Damian McKenzie (Chiefs) \u2013 on a day when few of the No 10s shone, McKenzie won out with his command and execution.<\/p>\n
Second five-eighths: Timoci Tavatavanawai (Highlanders). Pips Quinn Tupaea, who played well but was outpointed by Wallabies midfielder Hunter Paisami in the first half. Tavatavanawai was instrumental (despite a harsh yellow card in an eccentric outing by referee Damon Murphy) in the win over the Waratahs \u2013 including a game-saving turnover in the final minutes.<\/p>\n
![\"Highlanders]()
Highlanders star Timoci Tavatavanawai, pictured here in action against the Crusaders in February, was key for his side in the weekend’s win over the Waratahs. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Centre: Billy Proctor (Hurricanes). A creative match in the dismantling of Moana Pasifika \u2013 bridge passes, clever offloads and try assists aplenty.<\/p>\n
Wings: Caleb Tangitau (Highlanders) and Josh Moorby (Hurricanes). Tangitau\u2019s scorching pace, his ability to beat defenders and good use of a fend were all on display. An All Black in waiting. Moorby finished expertly for his four tries against Moana Pasifika.<\/p>\n
Fullback: Isaac Hutchinson (Chiefs). Honourable mention to the Highlanders\u2019 Jacob Ratumaitavaki-Kneepkens but Hutchinson prevails for some bold running in a round where too many outside backs (among them Caleb Clarke, Macca Springer and Sevu Reece) opted for kicks instead of backing themselves to beat defenders. Hutchinson (22), a former New Zealand Under-20s player, has speed and no little skill \u2013 one for the future.<\/p>\n
Paul Lewis<\/a> writes about rugby, cricket, league, football, yachting, golf, the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Winning or gaining parity in set pieces is crucial in test rugby. Any efforts by the All Blacks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[23968,5263,95,12635,1558,8136,217470,217467,124,1888,23841,1958,2082,217468,21695,10046,217466,27494,217469,48053,114231,217465,55265,3025,5971,111,139,69,17357,17888,10702,28472,60617,29158,1870,17879,213,1361,223,165,1961,810,25444,379],"class_list":["post-423943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-23968","tag-all","tag-and","tag-area","tag-been","tag-blacks","tag-bolter","tag-contested","tag-could","tag-first","tag-fiveeighths","tag-focus","tag-for","tag-forwards","tag-genuine","tag-hands","tag-keenly","tag-lewis","tag-littleregarded","tag-lock","tag-loose","tag-loosehead","tag-midfield","tag-most","tag-need","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-paul","tag-perhaps","tag-players","tag-positions","tag-prop","tag-putting","tag-search","tag-selection","tag-sports","tag-that","tag-the","tag-their","tag-this","tag-up","tag-urgent","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}